Fixtender – the first Latvian startup at Alchemist accelerator

Vitaly Petrov, founder and CEO of Fixtender, has been in the construction industry for over 14 years. There, he repeatedly saw the same issue – the terrible, spreadsheet-heavy process of construction tenders and the contracting involved in major projects. 

“Every construction project has a contractor, and subcontractors, and subcontractors beneath them. They would send spreadsheets with costs, download them, upload them. It was a mess. It’s the same in every country, and the bigger the figures, the harder it gets to manage, ” Vitaly explains.

He met co-founder Sergei Wing with 10 years of experience in proptech software development to find the best way to solve this issue. With Sergei’s team, Fixtender was off.

His solution was to build a cloud-based platform for holding tenders and the many details in them, as well as a marketplace for contractors, who can apply and bid for the available roles.

The platform is already being used by construction companies and projects in Latvia, Sweden, Germany, and the US. Vitaly tells us that it’s a game-changer for the construction industry.

“We applied several times in the last year, and we finally got in. Alchemist liked the vision that we want to become nr. 1 in Europe, and saw the potential of the product. That’s the calibre that they are going for.” 

Vitaly and Sergei have their sights set high. Fixtender is clear about their goal to become the nr. 1 platform of choice in Europe. With the support he’s receiving at Alchemist, he believes it’s only a matter of time. In 2-3 years, he expects to become a major player in the construction industry, but within 3-5, he expects to top it. 

In addition to his grand vision, believes that the unique model of the product drew the attention of the accelerator. While software usually is built to create either a SaaS product or a marketplace, Fixtender combines the two. It contains the software to manage the tenders, contractors, bids, etc., while it also contains the marketplace of contractors who can view, access, and apply to the various contracts. This combo would make Fixtender the go-to hub for the construction market. 

But Vitaly is up against a stiff challenge – the industry is generally not particularly open to innovation, and is slow to adopt new technologies. As a result, many don’t go looking for services like Vitaly’s. It’s an uphill battle, that he plans to fight with an upcoming seed round, which he plans to raise when he finalizes his participation in Alchemist, in September.

The program started in the spring of 2021, and Vitaly so far is enthusiastic. The best part? According to Vitaly, the mentors are world-class. Sales coaches, CEO coaches, mentors of any speciality. Accessing them is a fast-track to where you’re going, and harnessing the mentor network is a useful tool to drive the startup’s growth.

Source: labsoflatvia.com